Significant Weaknesses
by SkyMarauder
Summary: James Potter and Lily Evans have just realised their feelings for eachother. Not that either of them want to admit it to the other. Love is a sign of weakness for both. But maybe their love will make them stronger.


Here James Potter was, brooding over a girl. Brooding over not just any girl, but the girl happened to be his arch enemy, Lily Evans. It was for simple reasons that the pair took a complete distaste eachother. James hated her toffee-nosed, bookwormish ways that meant she never had the time for him, yet she always had time for Marlene and Remus. Lily hated his posh boy attitude and his rude comments directed towards others. In particular, her friend, Severus Snape.

So here James was, sitting in the Gryffindor Common Room by the fire, his glasses reflecting the flickering of the very last flame in the fireplace. His thoughts about the redhead were then rudely interjected by the arrival of his peers; Sirius Black; Remus Lupin; and last and always least, Peter Pettigrew. He smiled weakly up at his peers as they all took seats. Their arrival certainly had unnerved him and he could no longer concentrate.

"Hey Prongs." Sirius greeted as he flopped down beside his best friend, his hair wildly discarded across his face.

"Evening to you, Padfoot" James responded, budging over to make room. "Evening to you too, Moony and Wormtail."

"Hey James" The pair chorused as they took their normal seats opposite James and Sirius.

"What have you been up to man? You missed it!"

"Missed what?" James said rather too quickly; he was growing tired of his friend's attitude at this current moment in time.

"We got Sevy and hung him on one of the Quidditch goalposts." Sirius replied, too enticed within the story to notice James' frustrated face. He glanced at the new watch draped around his wrist. "He's been up there for about half an hour now I reckon."

James laughed scornfully, his features now relaxing as he leaned back into the seat. They chatted about various matters, mostly about N.E. and their futures. Conversation always seemed to turn to James and a certain Lily Evans. His friends had always considered that James had a small crush on the girl, despite his hatred for her which he often expressed to them. This time was no different. Conversation turned to the pair once again but James said very little. In fact, he didn't utter a word and to the surprise of his friends, he picked himself and departed the common room, leaving his now straight-faced friends wondering what was bothering him. Remus, always being the most comforting and affable in the group, went to console James and found him sitting in the Quidditch stands.

"It's an awfully cold night and you should come back inside. We didn't mean any harm by it, you should know that."

"I do." James expressed, following with a sigh. "I know. I just don't feel like talking about her."

"Why not?" questioned his friend, who wore a baffled look. "You seem fine about her all the time. Why is it different today? You've been acting weird all day; been spending time alone; ignoring us. What the hell is the matter?"

James scrunched up his face agonisingly. It hurt him to admit it but he was going to. He wasn't going to hold it back anymore, well at least not to his friends. They had always been there for him and to deny them of such a thing, seemed somewhat disloyal and uncouth to James. He took a deep breath and knew that his friends would mock him, but still, support him.

"You know Evans?" James inquired, his hands nervously rubbing eachother.

Remus nodded gravely, almost guessing what was about to slip from his friends lips.

"Well, I suppose I harbour feelings for her. I suppose, I like her." James muttered, adjusting his glasses to fit back into place.

"What's wrong with that?" asked Remus, quite amused at how reserved James had been about the matter.

"N-Nothing. It's just that at first, I couldn't come to terms with it. I couldn't even believe it." affirmed James. "It seems odd, but right, if you understand."

Remus nodded again and patted his friend's shoulder, before turning his head to the goalposts where an hour ago, Severus Snape was struggling.

"He got down then." James retorted with a laugh.

"I suppose he did, I wonder how." Anyway, let's go back to the common room."

Remus offered James his hand, who took it with no reluctance at all and pulled himself up. Minutes later, they were back in the comfort of the Gryffindor Common Room. Sirius and Peter turned their heads when the two returned and both had little to say.

"James has something to say." Remus declared, placing his hand on James' shoulder as somewhat of a source of complacency.

Sirius and Peter once again turned their heads to look at the pair. James felt a little reluctant to tell them now as he'd just admitted to himself. He'd found it hard telling Remus but telling Sirius and Peter was another matter. James placed his hands in his pockets, taking a deep breath as he turned back into his normal, smirking self.

"I like Evans." He said excitedly and as expected, his peers all cheered for him.

He raised his chin, smiling but was disturbed by the appearance of the girl of the hour and her best friend. Lily rolled her eyes as she saw her peers all looking up to a standing James who was grinning like a cat that had got the cream. Marlene merely shrugged off the matter as she ran over to Sirius, squealing as she tackled her boyfriend into a hug. Sirius, taken by surprise, yelped before leaning up to embrace her. James sat down immediately, noticing Lily roll her eyes. Sirius departed with Marlene to her dormitory as he did most nights, leaving Lily to engage in conversation with James, Remus and Peter.

"Hi Rem" Lily said as she wondered where to sit. The only available places being next to James or on the floor, she took to the floor, dropping her books next to her.

"Oh hey, Lils. Everything okay?" He asked, smiling at her.

Lily nodded, opening a book next to her. "I'm extremely stressed, with N.E. coming up and other such commitments." She mused, tapping her chin as she flicked through the book.

"What other commitments? All you do is study." James interrupted, smirking.

Lily grimaced, giving him a stern glare as she collected her things in a bundle, standing up. "I do plenty of things, Potter. And none of them concern you!" She snarled in his face before hurrying off to her dorm.

Remus also gave James a glare, frowning at him. James shrugged, standing up.

"It's not my fault she can't take a joke."

"It was uncalled for."

"What was uncalled for was the way she just treated me. Toffee-nosed prissy." James replied, unaware that just behind him was the girl he had just called a toffee-nosed prissy.

Lily's face crumpled as she once again ran off to her dorm, wanting the comfort of her bed more than anything else.

Meanwhile, Sirius and Marlene were in Lily and Marlene's dorm, not 'making out' as many thought they did, but having a serious conversation.

"James really likes Lily, you know. He told us all." Sirius said as his fingers traced up Marlene's arm.

"Really?" Marlene sat bolt right up, her eyes wide. Sirius nodded and she laughed slightly. "Well that happens to be funny because Lily likes James."

"She does?"

"Yep. She told me."

"Wow. I should tell Prongs..." muttered Sirius, smiling at Marlene.

"Not now." She replied, placing both hands either side of his face.

She pressed her lips to his as his arms naturally responded by sliding around her waist. She smiled, leaning into the usual place of the crook of his neck as she sighed in relief. The last thing they wished for was to be disturbed but of course, what we want, we don't get. Lily stormed into the room, throwing herself onto her four-poster bed, ruining the neat sheets that lay beneath her. To be humiliated in such a way made her feel flustered and disconcerted, especially when it was coming from someone she admired and liked. Lily liked James Potter despite his egotistic ways which she couldn't stand. But she liked him and all that was important was to not let him find out because Merlin, wouldn't he lay it on thick.

Marlene ushered Sirius out following a quick peck. He departed with a wave before disappearing within seconds through the door. She ran over to her friends side, soothing as she rubbed her best friend's back.

"What's happened Lils?"

There was no response, only a muffled scream into a pillow. Lily then revealed her face as she sat up on her bed, her eyes streaming as she retold the story.

"Wow." replied Marlene, furrowing her brims, her oceanic hues staring back at her friend, dumbfounded. "What are you going to do?"

Lily shrugged. She hadn't even thought about that herself. Did she forgive James if he did ask for an apology or ignore him? Neither sounded appealing but in the end, she went for the latter. She would ignore James and as she liked to call it, give him a taste of his own obnoxious medicine. In the common room, Sirius, James and Remus were still discussing James' comment about Lily.

"Moony, you saw the way she treated me." protested James, desperate to gain some closure for his negligence.

"Well James, you basically said she had no life. How do you think she feels?"

"It was a slip of the tongue. Now can we leave it?" James suddenly muttered, getting frustrated about his wrong doing.

Remus shrugged, standing up. "I'll go down to the kitchens to look for Peter. He can't have gone far…" He said and with a curt nod, he left the common room, leaving the two best friends alone.

Sirius turned to James, observing his anger filled best mate who was currently staring at his laps, fingers fiddling with eachother. He knew sooner or later he was going to have to say something and for the sake of his friend, he felt this was right. Sirius took a deep breath, pushing his friends arm as a smile grew on his face.

"James mate, I've got something that will turn your frown upside down."

"Enlighten me." James replied blankly, earning him an eye roll from Sirius.

"Seriously, apparently Lily likes you." Sirius said quickly, speaking in a hushed tone.

His finger found its way to his lips and a slender digit swore James to secrecy. James did a double take, his eyes widened and his hands stopped the fiddling. Everything had stopped in James' body, he sat there, transfixed in the moment as if all his Christmases had come at once. After a moment, James' lips curled into a smile and he laughed.

"Knew she did. Can't keep away from me…"

Sirius swatted his friend, giving him a serious look and James knew what he was going on about. Hurting Lily was the last thing on his mind right now and for his rude behaviour earlier in the night, he had decided to ask her on a date which he recited to Sirius.

"Great plan, bud." Sirius praised, clapping his friend on the back. "Now let's get to bed. Big day tomorrow, eh?"

James nodded, jumping out of his seat just as Remus and Peter emerged. The four friends reunited for a short period as they went to their dormitory for what was to be a very long sleep in James' case.

The next morning, James came skidding down the stairs of the Grand Staircase before entering the Great Hall. He sat down opposite the awaiting Remus and Peter, a huge smirk across his face.

"What did you say?" They asked in chorus, looking across at him eagerly.

"A gentleman never tells." James said, straightening his tie and attempting heavily to fix his hair which due to its untidy nature was his least favourite thing to do.

Sirius snorted, shoving James playfully, grabbing a slice of toast in the process before plonking it on his plate.

"He said nothing." informed Sirius, rolling his dark pools. "He hasn't even seen her."

James was about to defend himself when he saw a wave of red locks flow past him. His brims twitched upwards and he nodded curtly to his friends, wishing them good day before slipping out of the seat and following Lily outside into the grounds. Sirius gave his friends a disapproving glance and made a soft 'tsk, tsk' sound as he watched his friend depart from the table.

With one last glance at his friends, James was off following the girl whom he wished to charm. Sensing his presence, she ignored him as she carried on walking and only stopped when she arrived at the lake, where she sat down against a tree. Unaware of her knowing he was there, he climbed the tree in which she was leaning against and dangled down from it, a smirk forming on his brims as he looked the fiery bookworm up and down.

"Alright Evans?" He asked, a grin spilling from his lips.

Lily allowed a sigh to slip from her mouth as she turned away, hiding her face from the arrogant being with her petite hand. James' hues darkened slightly and he jumped down from the tree, sitting beside Lily, his frame much larger than hers.

"What's up?"

James had never realised how badly Lily could've taken the insult and being quite oblivious to the fact she was hurt by him, he continued to pester her.

"Just tell me what's up."

"No." came the reply from the young witch's mouth as she flicked a page in her book.

"Please."

"No." She once again responded before slamming her book shut, her angered hues looking back into his as she packed up her stuff and proceeded to go to the library. "You insensitive l-. You make me so angry!"

James opened his mouth in response but found he was speechless. Stopped in the tracks by the fiery redhead as she pushed passed him and stormed off. His mind lingered for a few seconds on whether to follow her but decided against it, knowing that maybe this time, he'd pushed too far.

It was about eight in the evening and the Marauders were enjoying a bite to eat that they had sneaked from dinner to eat as leftovers. James wasn't to be seen, well unless you had a keen eye. He was hunched over a book in the corner as his right arm scribbled over a piece of parchment. Once again, he'd left his potions homework too late and once again, he was to be in detention if he didn't complete it. His head remained down and he was still working at eleven o'clock when the common room was deserted. Knowing the common room would be deserted at this hour, Lily and Marlene snuck down into the room, unaware of the hunched figure in the corner which figured to be James. His ears pricked when Lily's soft tone reached his ears.

"Sirius wasn't lying when he told me. Sirius wouldn't do that to me, he's my boyfriend." muttered Marlene.

"Well, why the Merlin would James Potter like me?" Lily replied, sounding extremely frustrated.

"I don't know. He's always tried with you. Maybe he's liked you all along." suggested her friend.

"I don't understand though. I'm just a toffee-nosed prissy."

"No, you're not Lils. You're beautiful." Marlene murmured as she enclosed her best friend in a hug.

"Yeah right."

Debating whether to reveal himself, James kept quiet and stopped writing, completely amused by the conversation as they hissed at eachother.

"But why Marlene? I like him because underneath that entire exterior, I know he's a nice person. He's gentle and kind."

"Because."

"Because what?"

"Because he obviously sees the beauty in you that you don't see in yourself and that's why he likes you."

Marlene had got it spot on and it was hard for James to resist the urge to interrupt their conversation. He slammed his book shut, causing the two females to yelp quietly and jump. They turned their gaze to James who had now turned around, a smirk plastered across his face.

"You like me, Evans?" James asked innocently, his arms by his side and his hair wild.

Lily tried to hide the evident blush that rose from her pale cheeks, covering her face with her hands as she diverted her gaze.

"Evans, look at me." James ordered softly as he made his way over to her, kneeling by the armchair she was sat on. "I'm asking you to go on a date with me."

A date? James Potter was asking Lily Evans on a date? Lily couldn't help but blush more as she stammered a small 'yes' and met his eyes for a brief second. In response, he winked, flashing his trademark smile as his eyes twinkled.

"Wicked. I suppose I'll talk to you later." James said coolly, standing up from his current position.

For the final time that night, his eyes met hers and he grinned before nodding at them both, wishing them a goodnight which all three, most certainly had.


End file.
